How can I design a report on expenses by. supplier excluding payments for each supplier/transaction?

Hello cthkah and thanks for being a member of the Community!

QuickBooks Online is equipped with a report to meet every business' needs. With so many to choose from, it can be difficult to pick exactly the right one to show you the data you're looking for. I want to give you a hand with this.

I'd like to begin by clarifying the difference between an Expense and a Bill in QuickBooks Online. An Expense or a Cheque is paid immediately, and they represent both an expense and a payment transaction in one. If you're purchasing something on-the-spot, using a credit card, or using an EFT you'd enter an Expense transaction. A Bill and a Bill Payment are entered for expenses that you'll pay later. Entering Bills is important for accurate Accounts Payable reporting and so that you know exactly how much you owe your suppliers at any given time. 

For the reasons I've shared above, you won't be able to view a report that shows Expense transactions without payments, as the payment was recorded at the same time as the expense. You will however, be able to run a report that shows just your Bills, without the corresponding Bill Payments. Let me show you how.

The report you're running is the Expenses by Supplier Summary and while this is a great report, it can't be customized to show only Bill Payments. It can be filtered by Customer or Supplier, but not by transaction type, and that's what I think you're looking for. I believe that a Transaction Report is more along the lines of what data you'd like to see, and it can be customized by Transaction so you'll be able to only show Bill Payments if you wish. You can easily run a Transaction Report by navigating to your Expenses by Supplier Summary and selecting the dollar amount in the Total column, or by locating it using the search function on the Reports menu.

Here's how to customize the report:

1. Hit the Customize button in the upper right.
2. Locate the Filter section and click to expand it.
3. Select the filters you'd like to use. I think filtering by Transaction Type is what you're looking to do.
4. Choose the relevant transactions from the corresponding dropdown menu.
5. Be sure to specify any other customizations that are necessary such as Report period or Accounting method.
6. Hit Run report when you're ready.

If you should need to manipulate the data further, you can use the small icon next to the Gear at the top of the report to export it to Excel. You also have the option to Print or Email the report should you need to.

I'm confident this will get you moving in the right direction, but if you want further guidance, don't hesitate to reach out. I'm here to help make sure that using QuickBooks is a breeze.